Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 January and 31 March 2018.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser has had seven meetings with members of the Ministerial team during this period.

Aviation: Facilities

Sir Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the amount of historic public investment in aerodromes in years for which information is available.

Sir Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department plans to make available for the provision of new aerodromes.

Jesse Norman: The majority of airfields in the UK are privately run and owned. Like other business enterprises, potential investors and owners of new aerodromes can benefit from a range of measures that the Government has set in place to support businesses and promote growth, as well as support from regional and local government. Information on the amount of historic public investment in aerodromes is not held centrally.

Shipping

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the recent delays at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of six weeks in issuing a Coding Certificate for UK registered vessels.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: An assessment has not been made because the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is not aware of any recent delays of six weeks in issuing a coding certificate for UK registered vessels. Most Code vessel work is undertaken by Code Vessel Certifying Authorities (CAs) who work on behalf of MCA. The MCA can look at the specifics of the case(s) that have led to this enquiry, but would require further details, noting that should this case refer to a certificate issued by a CA, then that information will be shared with them.

Shipping: Fuels

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on developing improved fuel efficiency technologies for domestic shipping.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The government is committed to driving down emissions from ships and reducing the impact of emissions from the maritime sector on the environment, climate and public health. In the current Clean Air Strategy consultation, we have set out our intention to focus on the role domestic shipping and ports activities can play in delivering these improvements. Reducing shipping emissions and improving ship efficiency is a complex issue and there is no single solution to the problem. There are a number of alternative fuels and technologies that are available to shipowners and ports. For this reason, the Department for Transport is improving its evidence base to produce a comprehensive body of data on emissions from all ships operating in UK waters. This will establish the extent of the problem and underpin the appraisal of proposed interventions. To meet the vision of Maritime 2050, a long-term strategy for the UK’s maritime sector currently being developed, the government will publish the first Clean Maritime Plan by spring 2019. Recognising that a holistic approach is needed, this plan will set out our ambition of zero emission shipping and policies covering both alternative fuels and fuel efficiency technologies to achieve this. We will also establish a Clean Maritime Council to bring together different parts of the maritime sector to drive the uptake of cleaner technologies and greener fuels.

East Midlands Trains: Compensation

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on its negotiations with East Midlands Trains on compensation payments as a result of peak-time trains not stopping at Bedford.

Joseph Johnson: In the case of journeys from north of Bedford during the peaks when trains are not stopping at Bedford, East Midlands Trains has introduced a temporary 50% reduction for season ticket holders and there is also a 25% reduction on anytime fares for those passengers who are affected by the introduction of the rail replacement bus service for the duration of this operation. Passengers who have already bought a season ticket for travel to Bedford should contact CSC.manager@eastmidlandstrains.co.uk to arrange a partial refund. The discount will automatically be applied to tickets bought after 20th May 2018. In the case of journeys between Bedford and London during the peaks, Thameslink are providing two fast services per hour to mitigate the loss of EMT services. These services come with an equivalent journey time to the fast EMT services which have been removed. Each of these services provide direct access to Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars and London Bridge.This is a temporary arrangement whilst we deliver the biggest upgrade to the Midland Main Line since it was completed in 1870 and which will help deliver enhanced services from 2020.

Rail Industry Readiness Board

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who the members of the Rail Industry Readiness Board are.

Joseph Johnson: The parties represented at the Thameslink Industry Readiness Board are: Chris Gibb (Independent Chair),Network Rail – South East RouteNetwork Rail – London North Eastern RouteNetwork Rail – Anglia RouteNetwork Rail – System OperatorNetwork Rail – Thameslink Programme team (part of Network Rail Infrastructure Projects)SoutheasternGovia Thameslink RailwayStagecoach Group (Representing East Midlands Trains and Virgin Trains East Coast)Arriva Rail LondonDepartment for TransportOffice of Rail and RoadSiemens (supplier of the new Thameslink Fleet)Chris Green - Independent Assurance Panel representative

Rail Industry Readiness Board

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions in the last year he has met the rail Industry readiness Board.

Joseph Johnson: The Thameslink Industry Readiness Board is independently chaired by Chris Gibb and in his role as chair of this Board he has met or had conference calls with the Secretary of State for Transport on at least three occasions over the past year.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Migrant Workers: EU Nationals

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of workers working in the UK who are covered by the EU Posted Workers’ Directive.

Andrew Griffiths: The Government does not hold information on the number of workers working in the UK who are covered by the EU Posting of Workers Directive.

Energy: Waste

Rebecca Pow: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to increase the use of energy recovery from waste.

Claire Perry: Energy from waste (EfW) plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill sites, however we are working across Government to ensure that it does not compete with greater recycling, reuse and prevention.EfW technologies, including EfW with combined heat and power, and waste gasification, are eligible for support under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. To date the CfD scheme has supported two EfW projects and nine waste gasification projects.The Clean Growth strategy announced that up to £557 million will be available for future CfDs and that the next CfD auction is planned for spring 2019.

Lighting: EU Action

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has made to the European Commission on its proposals to remove the exemption for stage lighting from EU energy efficiency regulations.

Claire Perry: Officials from the Department attended the EU consultation forum in December 2017, the most recent discussion of this issue in Brussels, to discuss the latest Ecodesign lighting proposals. The Department has subsequently made representations to the European Commission in writing and in person to discuss the issue of stage lighting and potential solutions. I understand that representatives from the industry have also met with the Commission and will be drafting an alternative proposal for stage lighting for their consideration. It should be noted that this is only a proposal at this stage and remains open for discussion, with a final decision on the draft regulation likely to be made towards the end of the year. We will continue to engage with both industry and the European Commission in the meantime.

Mental Health: Research

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136508, what proportion of the Medical Research Council's budget was spent on mental health research in 2017-18.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Information on the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) spend on research relating directly to mental health and total research spend for 2017/18 will be made available once the MRC’s Annual Report and Accounts are laid before Parliament. We would expect the data to be available by the end of the Summer.

Pay

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he had with (a) workers, (b) trade unions and (c) employers in advance of the Government's annual advertising campaign to encourage workers to take action if they are not receiving the national living wage or the national minimum wage.

Andrew Griffiths: Key stakeholders, including large and small businesses, trade unions and business representative bodies, were briefed on key elements of the National Living and Minimum Wage campaigns ahead of the launch at the end of March. The Department also created communications packs for employer and employee stakeholders, each with important information to share with members in advance of, and during, the advertising campaign. The packs were also translated into Welsh.

Unpaid Work

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have undertaken unpaid work trials in 2017-18.

Andrew Griffiths: I am meeting worker and employer representatives to discuss guidance on the limited circumstances when short unpaid trials as part of a genuine recruitment process are legitimate.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Nigeria: Churches

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Nigerian counterpart on reports of violence and the destruction of churches in northern Nigeria.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The Nigerian Constitution provides for the protection of religious freedom, which we discuss regularly with the Nigerian Government at the highest levels. We continue to work with the Nigerian Government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to improve both the security situation and protection of human rights for all in Nigeria.

Nigeria: Religious Freedom

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of protections on discrimination against religious minorities in the northern and central states of Nigeria.

Harriett Baldwin: Nigeria is a secular, multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. We are aware of concerns that in some cases prosecutions have not been secured for some religion-related crimes and that a full assessment of the effectiveness of prosecution in such cases might not have been made. However, the UK is committed to promoting and protecting the freedom to practise faith or belief without discrimination The Nigerian Constitution provides for the protection of religious freedom which we raise frequent at the highest levels of government.

Nigeria: Armed Conflict

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports that Nigeria’s armed forces may be complicit in attacks by Fulani militia on communities in northern Nigeria.

Harriett Baldwin: ​We have seen no evidence of collusion by the Nigerian armed forces in attacks against farming communities in northern Nigeria. All action taken by the Nigerian armed forces and security services should be in accordance with International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and all incidents fully investigated. We welcome President Buhari's commitment to prioritise ending violence in Northern Nigeria and echo his calls for calm and reconciliation between the many ethnic groups and communities that make up and contribute to the strength and diversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Northern Ireland Office

UK Border Force: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to her oral contribution of 9 May, Official Report, column 662, what representations she has made to the Home Secretary on ensuring that the criteria applied in Northern Ireland by the UK Border Force in its recruitment drive are not discriminatory; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: Following discussions with my officials, the Home Office has confirmed that the criteria in Northern Ireland for the UK Border Force opens up the recruitment campaign to a representative profile of candidates. The Border Force has confirmed that it values the experience of people who have worked in the military and law enforcement, and that current and former members are free to apply for the Border Force recruitment campaign.

Northern Ireland Government

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what timetable she has set for re-starting the talks between the main political parties in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The Government continues to engage closely with the political parties, and the Irish Government as appropriate, to encourage and support work towards an accommodation to restore the Executive. This remains a top priority.

Northern Ireland Office: Non-departmental Public Bodies

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of her Department's non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Northern Ireland Office sponsors three non-Departmental Public Bodies; the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.There have been 16 new appointments to these bodies (8 women, 8 men) over the last five years as follows:Public Body2012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018MFMFMFMFMFMFBoundary Commission for Northern Ireland-------1----Parades Commission for Northern Ireland--33---2----Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission----1-----42

Attorney General

Attorney General: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney General, how many contractors currently employed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.

Robert Buckland: Contractors Data as of 30th May, 2018CPSSFOHMCPSIAGOGLD10000

Department for International Development

South Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent representations she has made to her counterpart in South Sudan on the protection of aid workers from violence in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: South Sudan is one of the most dangerous operating environments in the world for humanitarian workers, with at least 100 killed since the conflict began in 2013.Violence against those individuals delivering lifesaving assistance is completely unacceptable, and the UK has consistently made clear to South Sudan’s leaders that this must stop. We raise this issue regularly at Ministerial level.

Developing Countries: Education

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is she taking to enable women and children to access education in developing countries.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID’s new Education Policy, Get Children Learning, sets out how we will reach the most marginalised children, including the hardest to reach girls, children with disabilities and children caught up in emergencies and conflict. DFID does this through significant investments both bilaterally and multilaterally. In 2016 the UK spent £964 million bilaterally on education, whilst remaining the largest bilateral donor to the Education Cannot Wait and Global Partnership for Education programmes. In addition, the UK is a global leader on girls’ education, with our Girls’ Education Challenge programme helping a million marginalised girls access a quality education since 2012.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Minerals

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department provides to help prevent children from being forced into the mining of conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK is working to promote socially responsible practices, including eliminating child labour, in the mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through funding of the EU European Partnership for Responsible Minerals, DFID helps promote responsible sourcing of minerals; and also funds the Carter Center to improve transparency and governance of the sector.

Developing Countries: Private Education

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2018 to Question 144381 on Developing Countries: Private Education, for what reason that Question could only be answered at disproportionate cost when such information was provided in the Answer of 17 November 2016 to Question 52765 on Developing Countries: Private Education.

Harriett Baldwin: The question from November 2016 refers specifically to four countries. DFID has 32 country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, so an answer would come at a disproportionate cost.

Save the Children Fund

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that existing Save the Children projects continue following the decision of that organisation not to bid for further UK funds.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID is committed to driving up standards across the aid sector and we expect every organisation that we work with to have rigorous reporting and complaints mechanisms in place to protect beneficiaries and employees alike. Following the launch of a statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission, Save the Children UK withdrew from bidding for new UK Government funding until they can meet the high standards we expect of all our partners. Existing programmes with Save the Children will continue, governed by our risk management processes. For the time being, as an enhanced level of scrutiny, the Secretary of State is approving all payments DFID makes to Save the Children.

Department for Education

Members: Correspondence

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the letter of 18 May from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on The John Roan School, Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Music: Higher Education

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of students that have studied music at higher education establishments by ethnic group in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions. The breakdown of higher education enrolments in music subjects by ethnic group is included in the tables attached; undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments have been provided separately.The free school meals status of all students (all domiciles, all ages) who enrolled onto music subjects is not available.



149622_149625_enrolments_in_music_subjects
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Music: GCSE

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students (a) in total and (b) eligible for free school meals took GCSE Music in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The number of pupils[1], in state-funded schools, eligible for Free School Meals, at the end of Key Stage 4, who entered into GCSE (or equivalent) music[2], between 2012/13 – 2016/17[3] are provided in the table below:Pupils entering GCSE MusicAcademic yearFree School Meal eligible pupils[4]All other pupils[5]Total pupilsPercentage of all pupils entering music2012/13[6]5,80430,61436,4186.42013/14[7]6,57530,67337,2486.72014/15[8]7,32031,66038,9807.02015/167,18530,20037,3856.92016/176,78827,96234,7506.6  [1] Total number of entries include pupils who were absent, whose results are pending and results which are ungraded or unclassified.[2] Discounting has been applied where pupils have taken the same subject more than once and only one entry is counted in these circumstances. Only the first entry is counted, in all subjects, in line with the early entry guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-4-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores.[3] All figures are based on final data.[4] Free School Meal (FSM) status is taken from the pupils census record for that academic year and indicates that they were eligible for FSM in at least one of the previous 6 academic years.[5] Includes pupils whose FSM status was unknown.[6] Data for periods prior to 2012/13 are not available.[7] In 2013/14, two major reforms were implemented which affect the calculation of Key Stage 4 performance measures data: 1) Professor Alison Wolf’s Review of Vocational Education recommendations which: restrict the qualifications counted; prevent any qualification from counting as larger than one GCSE; and cap the number of non-GCSEs included in performance measures at two per pupil, and 2) an early entry policy to only count a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification, in subjects counted in the English Baccalaureate.[8] From 2014/15, early entry policy, under which only a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification is counted in performance measures, is extended to all subjects.

Music: GCE A-level

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  how many students (a) in total and (b) eligible for free school meals took A Level Music in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The total number of students in each year, entering A level music, split by Free School Meal eligibility, is provided below: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] YearStudents eligible for FSM[4]All other students[6]Total studentsThe percentage of all A level students entering music2010/11945,1425,2362.0%2011/121204,9125,0321.9%2012/13794,5704,6491.8%2013/14954,4484,5431.8%2014/15[7]1024,2464,3481.6%2015/16903,6943,7841.2%[8]2016/17923,8413,9331.2%[8]   [1] For 2010/11 – 2015/16 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-level-attainment-by-pupil-characteristics. For 2016/17 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2016-to-2017-revised (open the ‘A level exam results and A level and vocational participation csv’ and then the ‘A level subjects by characteristics’ file).[2] Students, at the end of their 16-18 study, who entered A level music.[3] Includes entries into A level music qualifications which are eligible for inclusion in performance tables. Where qualifications taken by a student are in the same subject area and similar in content, ‘discounting’ rules have been applied to avoid double counting qualifications.[4] The methodology through which students ethnicity is identified was changed in 2016/17. Up to 2015/16 a student’s ethnicity was taken from their census record three years prior to the academic year the figures are reported for. In 2016/17 a student’s ethnicity is taken from the census record of their final year of Key Stage 4 study (normally, three years prior). Due to this change, 2016/17 figures can not be compared to earlier years.[5] Figures are based on final data.[6] Includes students whose ethnicity is unknown. A student’s ethnicity may be unknown for several reasons, including if they attended an independent secondary school (which do not complete the school census).[7] Figures from 2012/13 to 2014/15 cover students at the end of advanced level study who were entered for at least one A level, applied single award A level, applied double award A level or combined A/AS level in the reporting year. Figures for earlier years cover students who were entered for at least one A level, applied single award A level, applied double award A level or combined A/AS level in the summer of the reporting year.[8] From 2010/11 – 2014/15 these figures are based on students entered for A levels, from 2015/16 these figures are based on students entered for AS and A levels, resulting in a much bigger cohort. This artificially reduces the percentage in comparison to previous years and therefore comparisons between the percentages of 2015/16 and 2016/17 and earlier years cannot be made.

Music: Higher Education

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of students (a) in total and (b) eligible for free school meals who studied music in higher education in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions. The breakdown of higher education enrolments in music subjects by ethnic group is included in the tables attached; undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments have been provided separately.The free school meals status of all students (all domiciles, all ages) who enrolled onto music subjects is not available.



149622_149625_enrolments_in_music_subjects
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Apprentices: Skilled Workers

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons the Post-16 skills plan for (a) protective services, (b) sales, marketing and procurement, (c) Social Care and (d) transport and Logistics will be delivered primarily through apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: Following extensive analysis and stakeholder engagement, the Independent Panel on Technical Education led by Lord Sainsbury, identified that four technical routes would be better suited to delivery via work-based training (apprenticeships), rather than classroom-based provision (T Levels). These were ‘Transport and Logistics’, ‘Sales’, ‘Marketing and Procurement’, ‘Social Care’ and ‘Protective Services’. The government accepted these recommendation and these routes formed the basis for developing the occupational maps, which are now owned by the Institute for Apprenticeships.T Levels will not be available in all areas for which vocational qualifications currently exist. This is because some occupations are more suitable for delivery through an apprenticeship. However, our review of level three qualifications – confirmed in the recent response to the T Level consultation – will be comprehensive, and will ensure that there is continued provision where there is a genuine need for a qualification. For example, where they serve a genuine and useful purpose, are of a high quality and enable students to progress to meaningful outcomes.

T-levels: Publicity

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) current year 9 learners and (b) future cohorts are aware of T-levels.

Anne Milton: We are already communicating with the education sector and employers to increase awareness and understanding of T Levels. As we move towards the first teaching of T Levels in 2020, the scale and pace of this communication will increase to make sure that parents, teachers, students and careers professionals know about T Levels and when they will be available.Schools are legally responsible for providing independent careers guidance for all year 8-13 pupils on the full range of education and training options, including further technical education and apprenticeships. The government’s careers strategy sets out how we will go further to make sure that young people can talk regularly to employers and training providers to inform the decisions that they make at important transition points. The strategy includes new legislation, introduced in January 2018, which requires all maintained schools and academies to make sure that there is an opportunity for a range of providers to talk to year 8-13 pupils about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. Further information about the new law can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-minister-highlights-new-provider-access-law-for-schools. The Careers & Enterprise Company are also building on their network of Enterprise Coordinators, Advisors and Cornerstone Employers.

T-levels

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that T-levels enable learners to move between disciplines as their priorities and interests change.

Anne Milton: We recognise that, as is the case for current provision, some students will choose to change T Levels after starting their course. We want to ensure that T Level courses accommodate this flexibility.We will be working with the providers of the first T Levels in 2020/21 and 2021/22 to explore how courses could be designed which allow students to change to another T Level early on in the course without it affecting their progress. The core component of the T Level includes content common across all T Levels within a route, which will help when students move between courses. Where students transfer onto another T Level within the same route, where possible, we will make sure that if they have already attained the core component and this is recognised in their new T Level.Once T Level content is finalised, we will work with higher education providers to identify where a bridging provision may be needed, to allow students to progress from T Levels to an academic route should they wish to do so.T Levels are much broader in content than apprenticeships. Students will learn about a range of different occupations in the sector and develop skills common to each, meaning they will have more options and scope to move occupations once in work.

Ministry of Justice

Personal Injury: Compensation

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made on the potential effect of his Department's proposed personal injury reforms on people who are not driving a car who are involved in traffic accidents.

Rory Stewart: A legislative stage Impact Assessment detailing the Government’s estimates of the impacts on a number of affected groups was published alongside the Civil Liability Bill on 20 March 2018. The Impact Assessment does not break down affected groups by sub-sets, and claimants are defined as a single group.This Impact Assessment covers both the measures being taken forward in the Civil Liability Bill, and the supplementary measures to increase the small claims limit for personal injury claims, and is available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2017-2019/0090/whiplash-IA.pdf.The measures taken forward in the Civil Liability Bill will only cover those claimants and defendants who are using or being carried in a motor vehicle. Cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and horse riders are excluded. The proposal to increase the small claims track to £5,000 for RTA related PI claims will however, apply to all road traffic accident claimants.

Prison Service: Members

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a prison service parliamentary scheme.

Rory Stewart: I recognise that it could be useful to give participants first-hand knowledge of the good work and innovation as well challenges being faced across the Service. We are carefully considering how a scheme for Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) could operate.

Prison Officers: Protective Clothing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on prison officers wearing (a) smoke hoods and (b) other respiratory protective equipment when attending an incident in a cell involving the use of a psychoactive substance.

Rory Stewart: Smoke Hoods are designed explicitly for the purpose of protecting prison officers from the harmful effects of fire and smoke gasses when tackling cell fire incidents. The set is limited to short-duration cell fire response operations and is not designed and should not therefore be used for any other purpose, such as to protect from psychoactive substances. All prison officers are trained in its use including annual refresher training. Prison officers are trained to visually inspect cells via the cell door’s observation window to assess the condition of the cell and the behaviour and position of its occupant(s) prior to entry. Procedures are in place to defer entry and to take other measures if there is evidence of the potential for noxious fumes or smoke to be present other than where there is an apparent immediate risk to life. Respiratory protective equipmentis not mandated for all entry into cells as the vast majority of entries into cells present no significant respiratory risk.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the savings that will be passed on to motorists through reduced insurance premiums as a result of changes proposed in the Civil Liabilities [HL] Bill.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how his Department plans to calculate the estimated savings to insurance premiums as a result of changes proposed in the Civil Liabilities [HL] Bill.

Rory Stewart: A legislative stage Impact Assessment detailing the Government’s estimates for savings to motor insurance premiums arising from the whiplash reforms, including the data sources and evidence used, was published alongside the Civil Liability Bill on 20 March 2018. The impact assessment shows estimated savings to be passed on to consumers of on average, around £35 per policy.This Impact Assessment covers both the measures being taken forward in the Civil Liability Bill, and the supplementary measures to increase the small claims limit for personal injury claims, and is available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2017-2019/0090/whiplash-IA.pdf.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that savings to insurance premiums are passed on to motorists as a result of changes proposed in the Civil Liabilities [HL] Bill.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to monitor insurance premium cost changes made as a result of provisions in the Civil Liabilities [HL] Bill.

Rory Stewart: Motor insurance is intensely competitive on price and the Government expects that insurance companies will have little choice but to pass on savings, or risk being priced out of the market. Insurance providers covering 84% of the UK motor and liability market have already publicly committed to pass on to consumers the savings arising from Government reforms.The Government will continue to closely monitor the industry’s reaction to these reforms following implementation and will regularly engage with them on how they are meeting their commitment. In addition, if the industry in part, or as a whole sought to avoid passing on savings the Financial Conduct Authority and/or the Competition and Markets Authority would investigate and take appropriate action.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release, Justice Secretary unveils new bill to cut car insurance premiums, published on 20 March 2018, what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in the system when calculating the personal injury discount rate.

Rory Stewart: A number of measures have been included in the Civil Liability Bill to ensure that the discount rate is set fairly and transparently in future. These include a requirement for the Lord Chancellor to consult an independent expert panel when determining the rate. In addition, the Lord Chancellor must give reasons for the determination made and publish such information about the expert panel’s response to consultation as he or she considers appropriate. This will include the panel’s report to the Lord Chancellor. The government has also committed, in its response to the Justice Select Committee’s report, to publishing an impact assessment of the effect that a change in the discount rate will have each time it is changed.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department provides to insurers on (a) investigating and (b) not paying out to fraudulent motor insurance claims.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of motor insurance claims that were fraudulent in each of the last eight years.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of motor insurance claims that were fraudulent in each of the last eight years.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the Government measures the number of motor insurance claims that are fraudulent.

Rory Stewart: Whether to settle or contest a claim is a decision for individual insurers and other compensators to make based on the merits of each case.The Government does not collate information in relation to fraudulent personal injury claims, as the nature of fraud makes it difficult to accurately identify the number of unmeritorious claims, meaning that not all fraud is detected. There are, however, alternative sources of such data available, including data published by the Association of British Insurers which can be found at https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-and-issues/fraud/.The Government is introducing measures to deter fraud in claims and counter the wider compensation culture. The Civil Liability Bill, currently before Parliament, will introduce a ban on making offers to settle whiplash claims without medical evidence, which will ensure that unmeritorious claims cannot be settled without verification that they are genuine. In addition, supplementary measures to be introduced in secondary legislation to increase the small claims limit for personal injury claims will reduce the costs of civil litigation, encouraging greater challenge to potentially fraudulent claims.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals have been made by claimants of personal independence payment since its inception.

Lucy Frazer: Information about the number of Personal Independence Payment appeals received by the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) from appellants living in England, Scotland and Wales is published on GOV.UK.The most recent statistics, for the period October to December 2017, published on 8 March, can be viewed at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2017The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service administers appeals for appellants living in Northern Ireland.

Courts: Floods

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions courts have had to be closed as a result of flooding since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: Since 2010 to date, business continuity records indicate that there have been 20 instances where court or tribunal hearing centres have been closed to the public as a result of flooding.

Personal Independence Payment: Wallasey

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2018 to Question 142352 on Personal Independence Payment, for what reasons that information is not held centrally.

Lucy Frazer: There is no report which accurately captures the average time taken from receipt to hearing. Data is available for the average time for an appeal to be cleared. However, the average time for an appeal to be cleared includes (amongst other things) those cleared both after an initial hearing and those cleared after an initial hearing was adjourned. It also includes those cleared without any hearing as cases can be disposed of on the papers, withdrawn by the appellant, or lapsed by the Department for Work and Pensions. There are no waiting times recorded for delivery of judgments as, wherever possible and in most cases, the tribunal gives its decision on the day of the hearing. However, there may be very few circumstances when that is not possible. The tribunal may, for example, need more time to consider the issues; or there maybe particular circumstances which cause the tribunal to consider providing a decision on the day inappropriate. In those cases, the decision will be sent out to the parties as soon as practicable after the hearing.

National Probation Service

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to meet staff representatives of the National Probation Service to discuss their pay and conditions.

Rory Stewart: There are no plans at present to meet with staff representatives of the National Probation Service, but we recognise the significant role that probation officers play within the criminal justice system, implementing the orders of the courts, rehabilitating offenders and protecting the public. Since the creation of the National Probation Service in June 2014, officials from HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) have held regular and lengthy discussions with the National Association for Probation Officers (NAPO) (the trade union for probation officers), Unison and GMB SCOOP over pay and working conditions. There have also been constructive and exploratory talks on pay reform. We are working to progress a case, consistent with the Government’s overall approach to public sector pay, which can be agreed with Ministerial colleagues at HM Treasury at the earliest opportunity.

Prisoners' Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2018 to Question 128402, when the review of the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme will conclude; and what steps are being taken to ensure that that scheme is not used as a determining factor for access to family days for any prisoner regardless of their gender.

Rory Stewart: As the Secretary of State said in his speech at the Royal Society of Arts we want to reset and reinvigorate the system of incentives in our prisons so they work much more in the favour of those prisoners who play by the rules and who want to turn their lives around, whilst coming down harder on those who show no intention of doing so. The new Incentives and Earned Privilege (IEP) Policy Framework will exclude the use of IEP as a determining factor for access to family days for any prisoner, regardless of their gender. We expect to consult stakeholders on a draft IEP Policy Framework shortly, and to conclude the review of IEP after this consultation.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copies of the (a) guidance and (b) procedures his Department has issued to tackle long waiting times for personal independence payment appeal tribunal dates.

Lucy Frazer: I will place a copy of the general listing guidance, together with supplementary guidance issued in relation to case management “triage” sessions (introduced with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination), in the Library. Listing is the responsibility of the independent Judiciary and the guidance is issued in support of this. Tackling long waiting times in response to increased volumes of appeals is achieved through additional capacity. In order to achieve this we have recruited extra fee paid judicial office holders: 250 Judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and 230 medical members (subject to confirmation of appointment) and are developing a new digital system which enables speedier processing of appeals and a better service for all parties to the tribunal.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Appeals

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Proposal to amend the Tribunal Procedure (First-Tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008, published on 22 March 2018 by the Tribunal Procedure Committee, what estimate his Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of the recommendations in that document of (a) abolishing pre-hearing examinations and (b) giving First-Tier Mental Health Tribunals the power to take decisions without an oral hearing where a patient has been automatically referred to a Tribunal.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has made an initial estimate that there may be a potential saving of up to £5.8 million from removing the requirement for medical members to carry out a pre-hearing examination and enabling the Mental Health Tribunal to decide referral cases without an oral hearing. This figure would be reduced if legal aid costs rose because of appellants’ legal representatives commissioning Independent Medical Reports. In terms of the proposal to decide referral cases without an oral hearing, the appellant would still have the right to request an oral hearing and an oral hearing will be directed by the judge if they feel one is necessary.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Appeals

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what number and proportion of patients discharged at tribunal (a) had and (b) had not received a pre-hearing examination in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Lucy Frazer: The number of patients who receive a pre-hearing examination is not recorded centrally. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Treasury

Child Benefit

Frank Field: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exechequer, how many new parents received bounty packs with paperwork containing information on applying for child benefit in 2016-17.

Elizabeth Truss: In the period from the beginning of April 2016 to end March 2017 HMRC distributed a total of 743,733 packs.

Disaster Relief

Nigel Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the devolved administrations on the replacement of emergency natural disaster payments that are currently made from the EU Solidarity Fund.

Elizabeth Truss: Under the implementation period included within the draft Withdrawal Agreement, the UK will continue to participate in 2014-2020 EU programmes until they close.In the longer-term, the funding choices we take will be based on the UK’s domestic priorities and will be affected by the economic environment, the fiscal position and the outcome negotiated with the EU.The UK Government and devolved administrations are discussing EU exit through the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) and the Ministerial Forum (EU Negotiations).I also discuss funding matters with the devolved administration finance ministers on a regular basis, both bilaterally and through the Finance Ministers’ Quadrilateral.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Local Government Finance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2018 to Question 140664 on local government finance, if he will make it his Department's policy to record all cross-departmental discussions between (a) political advisers and (b) civil servants on the effects of the UK leaving the EU.

James Brokenshire: It is not the Department’s policy to record all cross-departmental discussions between officials. Engagement between officials routinely takes place through a wide range of channels and fora. Information on such discussions is not held centrally and it would not be feasible to do so.

Local Government: Constitutions

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 37 of the Local Government Act 2000, whether it is his Departments policy to keep records of all written constitutions by local authority.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 37 of the Local Government Act 2000, whether his Department monitors the written constitutions of each local authority.

James Brokenshire: The Department neither has records of, nor monitors, local authority constitutions which are for each council to adopt, maintain, and make publicly available, as required by the Local Government Act 2000.

Non-domestic Rates: Rural Areas

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 42B of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, what records his Department keeps on a local authorities duty to maintain a rural settlement list.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section 42B of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, whether his Department monitors the rural rate relief provided by local authorities through that duty.

James Brokenshire: The compilation and maintenance of rural settlement lists, as required by sections 42A and 42B of the Local Government Finance Act 1998, are the responsibility of local authorities. Authorities submit data on the amount of rural rate relief awarded to eligible properties within such settlements through the annual National Non-domestic Rates statistical returns. This data is published online and available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-for-2018-to-2019

Council Tax: Exemptions

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Regulation 10 of the Council Tax Administration and Enforcement Regulations 1992, what records his Department keeps on local authorities and their duty to notify residents and owners of dwellings which are exempt from council tax.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Regulation 10 of the Council Tax Administration and Enforcement Regulations 1992, whether his Department has received reports of local authorities not fulfilling their duty to notify the residents or owners of dwellings which are exempt from council tax.

James Brokenshire: The Department does not collect information about notifications issued to council tax payers. Such matters are the responsibility of local authorities, which administer council tax.

Social Services: Finance

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s policy paper on the allocations of the additional funding for adult social care, published on 9 March 2017, how much of that funding is being delivered through the (a) the innovation and Better Care Fund and (b) Relative Needs Formula used for the 2017-18 Adult Social Care Support Grant for each local authority in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.

Rishi Sunak: The £2 billion for adult social care announced at Spring Budget 2017 has been allocated almost entirely using the improved Better Care Fund formula, which takes account of ability to raise money through the council tax precept for social care. That means it is very well targeted at areas of greater need and market fragility. However, as we recognise that all councils face social care pressures, 10 per cent of the funding is allocated using the Relative Needs Formula (RNF). All the additional £2 billion supplemented the improved Better Care Fund and is to be used for those purposes.As part of the Local Government Finance Settlement in 2017-18, Government also provided £241 million of funding through the Adult Social Care Support Grant, allocated entirely using the RNF. And in February 2018, the Local Government Finance Settlement announced Adult Social Care Support Grant for 2018-19 of £150 million.

Social Rented Housing: Tenants' Rights

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to give housing association tenants a right to return after refurbishments have taken place in their properties; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: Where a housing association landlord needs to carry out major repairs or refurbishment to a property, for example to bring it up to the decent homes standard, it may be necessary for the tenant to move out of the property temporarily while the works are carried out. In such circumstances, we would expect that the tenant would normally move back into the property after the works are completed.Social housing tenants cannot be evicted from their home unless a court grants possession to a landlord. The court has discretion to do this if a landlord intends to carry out redevelopment or major works that could not be completed otherwise and it is satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available for the tenant. Some landlords choose to offer to pay residents’ home removals costs and offer a guaranteed right of return with an equivalent tenancy once the redevelopment or major works are complete.In December 2016 we published the Estate Regeneration National Strategy. This good practice guidance sets out the Government’s expectation that all existing housing association and council tenants, whether on a lifetime or fixed-term tenancy, should have the option to return to the estate following regeneration work.

Affordable Housing

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of using a prospective tenant's income to establish whether a property offers affordable rent; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The social rent formula, used to set the initial rent on the vast majority of rented social housing, takes account of relative local income levels (as well as the relative value and size of the property).The Government’s Affordable Homes Programme includes funding to support the delivery of both affordable rent and social rent homes, to help meet the needs of a range of people in different circumstances and in different housing markets.

Housing Associations: Rents

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many meetings he has held with (a) Genesis and (b) Peabody housing association since his appointment; whether he has made written representations to those associations on the imposition of rent increases for secure tenants; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: The Secretary of State has so far not met with either Peabody or Genesis housing associations and has not made written representations regarding their rents.A landlord or a tenant of a secure tenancy can make an application to have a fair rent registered by Valuation Office Agency (VOA). Landlords must then apply to have the rent re-registered if they want to increase it. If there have been no major changes to the property, the re-registration will be subject to the Maximum Fair Rent calculation. This is based on the existing registered rent multiplied by a figure (based on the change to the Retail Price Index from the last registration to the current registration) plus 5 per cent, then rounded up to the next 50 pence.

Housing Associations: Regulation

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has (a) made an assessment of the merits and (b) collected evidence on the effectiveness of the co-regulation of housing associations; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: The Regulatory Futures Review, published by Cabinet Office in January 2017 looked at what made effective regulatory delivery models and concluded that regulated self-assurance or co-regulation represented good practice. This approach focuses, as far as possible, on outcomes and makes use of a wide range of levers to reduce harm and improve quality. These levers include using the influence of user/consumer pressure as well as the quality-management systems of regulated entities themselves to ensure assurance processes meet the desired regulatory outcomes, whilst delivering efficiencies and reducing burden on businesses.The Review can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/582283/Regulatory_Futures_Review.pdfThis type of regulated self-assurance or co-regulation has been adopted by the Regulator of Social Housing. It meets the requirement in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, as amended by the Localism Act 2011, that the Regulator for Social Housing is required to perform its functions in a way that minimises interference, and so far as is possible is proportionate, consistent, transparent and accountable.The effectiveness of co-regulation is demonstrated through the robust financial health of the sector. The latest Quarterly Survey published by the Regulator on 31 May 2018 shows that the social housing sector has sufficient access to finance and is in a robust position to respond to any changes to the wider economic environment. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rsh-quarterly-survey-published-covering-q4-january-to-march-2018

Planning Permission: Vauxhall

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to make a decision on whether to call in the application by  VCI Property Holdings to develop the island site at Vauxhall Cross.

Dominic Raab: The planning application by VCI Property Holdings to develop the island site at Vauxhall Cross is still being considered by Lambeth Council. The Council is expected to issue a draft decision in July 2018 following which they will consult with the London Mayor in order for him to decide whether he should direct the Council to refuse the application. The Secretary of State will await the Mayor's decision before considering whether or not to call-in the planning application.

Fracking: Planning Permission

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to process planning applications for shale gas extraction.

Dominic Raab: I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on planning policy made by the Secretary of State on 17 May (HCWS689), which announced a range of planning measures to facilitate timely decisions on shale planning applications.

Fracking: Planning Permission

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average time taken to process a shale gas exploration application  was in each of the last three years.

Dominic Raab: Mineral Planning Authority decisions to grant or refuse planning permission for shale gas exploration proposals in England over the last three years have taken between 17 and 83 weeks, from the date of validation of that application to the date the decision was issued.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many contractors currently employed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Department does not routinely maintain current details of those individuals who are paid £1,000 or more per day.

Ministry of Defence: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many meetings he had with the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 January and 31 March 2018.

Gavin Williamson: Between 1 January and 31 March 2018, I have had no meetings with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser.

Afghanistan: Armed Forces

Leo Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan; what role those troops will have; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: No decisions have been taken on sending additional UK troops to Afghanistan. The UK makes an important contribution to the non-combat NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, and as a result, our contribution is kept under regular review to ensure it remains suited to the needs of the mission.

Arctic: Russia

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the Russian military threat in the High North.

Mark Lancaster: Russia's Arctic Command has increased its military presence and activity in the High North. Russian submarine patrols in the North Atlantic are now at a higher level than at any time since the end of the cold war. Russia also conducts regular strategic bomber training missions in the region.These actions are legal and Russia currently acts within existing conventions, engaging with the Arctic Council and respecting the rulings of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). We would be concerned if in the future Russia changed its stance and chose to interfere with our freedom of navigation in the High North.

Arctic: Climate Change

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the security implications of climate change in the high north.

Mark Lancaster: The Arctic is currently an area of high international cooperation and low tension, and indications point to this remaining the case for the near future. Over time the receding ice will enable greater maritime traffic in the region, from fishing, commercial shipping and tourism. Competition for natural resources in the area in conjunction with the increased traffic could present greater opportunity for sources of international tension, terrorism, and piracy. Increased distances of maritime vessels from sovereign coastlines may exacerbate the difficulties of search and rescue in the region. The UK and our allies remain vigilant to changes in the region and their potential impact.

Royal Naval College

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of people entering courses at the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in each of the last five years; and on which courses each of those enrolled.

Mark Lancaster: The number of individuals entering each course conducted at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in each of the last five calendar years is provided in the table below.  20132014201520162017Initial Naval Training (Officer)243272344361356International Courses-10192626Royal Fleet Auxiliary2342946039Junior Officers’ Leadership Course-166133167183Warrant Officers’ Staff Course-736011479Naval Analysis Course192192192192192Royal Naval Reserve Confirmation Course2315312123Royal Naval Reserve Accelerated Officer Programme--393028 Notes:  Initial Naval Training (Officer). Represents the annual totals for the 29-week, Phase 1 training.  International Courses. Represents the total number of overseas officers studying on academic courses hosted at BRNC and run in partnership with the University of Plymouth. This programme commenced in 2014.  Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Training. Seven-week Phase 1 training for the RFA. A peak in RFA training numbers occurred in 2015 due to an increase in direct entrants. 4. Junior Officers’ Leadership Course. Two-week, through life, course run by the Royal Naval Leadership Academy (RNLA) but conducted at BRNC. Due to changes to the manner in which information was recorded by RNLA, figures for 2013 are not centrally held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. 5. Warrant Officers’ Staff Course. One week, through life, course run by the RNLA but conducted at BRNC. Due to changes to the manner in which information was managed by RNLA, figures for 2013 are not centrally held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. 6. Naval Analysis Course. One-week course to prepare for the Intermediate Command and Staff Course. 7. Royal Naval Reserve Confirmation Course. Two-week course held at BRNC as the culmination of a two-year Reserve training programme. 8. Royal Naval Reserve Accelerated Officer Programme. A fast track, eight-week course (four of which are hosted at BRNC) introduced in 2015.

Royal Air Force College

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of people entering courses at the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in each of the last five years; and on which courses each of those enrolled.

Mark Lancaster: The number of people entering courses at the Royal Air Force College at RAF Cranwell in the last five calendar years; and on which courses each were enrolled is as follows: Course20132014201520162017Initial Officer Training214328311390401Special Entrant & Re-Entrant3944284036Reserve Officer Initial Training815201021Commissioned Warrant Officer Course~12182116Non-Commissioned Aircrew Initial Training Course1920404461 Due to the small populations generated by this level of detail, and the possibility of identifying individual personnel, "~" denotes a number less than 5.

Royal Military Academy

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of people entering courses at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in each of the last five years; and on which courses each of those people enrolled.

Mark Lancaster: The number of recruits beginning courses at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in each of the last five years are shown on the tables below:  Training YearCourse Title2013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18Reserves Commissioning Course110120150130160Regular Commissioning Course560520570580590Professionally Qualified Officers Course60609010090   Calendar YearCourse Title20142015201620172018Late Entry Officers Course (LEOC)220230260270150Soldier Conversion Officer Course (SCOC)30202020-  Notes/Caveats: These figures are single service estimates and are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.The year of commencement may not equate to the year of completion.LEOC and SCOC are shorter courses ran throughout the year at different intervals.Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, except where specified; numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.“-” denotes zero or rounded to zero

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans have paid solicitors to represent them at tribunals to challenge decisions made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme since 2015.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Cryptocurrencies

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recommendations were made to her Department as a result of the trials that GovCoin undertook on the use of blockchain technology for the welfare and benefits system; and whether the findings of those trails will be published.

Kit Malthouse: In 2016, DWP ran a trial proof of concept on a small scale and the findings concluded that it was not viable due to limited take up potential and the expenses it would incur. No other companies were involved in the trial and no benefit or personal data was shared with GovCoin (DISC) on claimants.

Social Security Benefits: Cryptocurrencies

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether other companies have been involved in the GovCoin contract to undertake trials on the use of blockchain technology for the welfare and benefits system; and whether any claimant information was shared with (a) those other companies and (b) GovCoin during the period of that contract.

Kit Malthouse: In 2016, DWP ran a proof of concept pilot to explore GovCoin’s (DISC) capability. No other companies were involved in the pilot and no benefit or personal data was shared with GovCoin (DISC) on claimants.

Members: Correspondence

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the average amount of time her Department has taken to respond to correspondence from (a) hon. Members and (b) hon. Members' offices over the last 12 months.

Kit Malthouse: Information on the performance of departments and agencies on handling correspondence from Members is published annually by way of a written statement by the Cabinet Office. The most recent statement, covering 2016, was made on 11 July 2017, Official Record Vol. 627 HCWS35. The figures for 2017 will be made available in due course.

Children: Maintenance

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been contacted by the Child Maintenance Service in error in the last 12 months.

Kit Malthouse: We do not keep statistics or records of people who we have contacted in error. In order to confirm the contact details for a customer the Child Maintenance Service has a number of trace tools, including interfaces with other Government Departments and Credit Reference Agency, which we utilise to facilitate this.

Pension Protection Fund

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of crown guaranteed pension schemes that operate under the pension protection fund; and if she will provide (a) a list of the names of those schemes, (b) details of the crown guarantee liability and (c) the date when those schemes entered that fund.

Guy Opperman: The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) was set up to pay compensation to members of defined benefit schemes where the sponsoring employer is insolvent and the scheme has insufficient assets to secure pensions at PPF compensation levels of above. There are no pension schemes in the PPF with a crown guarantee, as the guarantor would be required to make up any shortfall in the event of insolvency.

Personal Independence Payment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of personal independence payment decisions have been overturned at (a) the mandatory reconsideration, (b) the appeal and (c) any other stage as a result of information being incorrectly recorded during face-to-face consultations.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not held by the Department.

Social Security Benefits: Children

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her decision to amend the ordering restriction on the exemption from the two child limit for children in kinship care, whether she has plans to amend the ordering restriction on the exemption for children born as a result of non-consensual conception.

Alok Sharma: We currently have no plans to make further amendments to the policy.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Viridor

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take action against Viridor for exceeding its permit level for waste disposal at its Runcorn Energy from Waste site.

David Rutley: The Environment Agency (EA) does not intend to take any enforcement action as a consequence of Viridor exceeding its permit level for waste disposal at its Runcorn Energy from Waste site. The exceedance was authorised by the EA on a temporary trial basis due to the plant’s routine shut-down period being shorter than usual, and will not have led to an unacceptable impact on the environment. Viridor will need to apply for a permit variation in order to permanently increase its annual throughput of waste. Any such permit variation is likely to be subject to public consultation.

Bridleways

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to open new bridalways in (a) Colne Valley constituency, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England.

David Rutley: Public rights of way are a local matter and are handled by individual local highway authorities. Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) to plan improvements to their network, which is usually available on the authority’s website. The expectation is for local authorities, whenever possible, to look at the needs of all users, including walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.

Rural Areas: Scotland

Luke Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what new initiatives his Department has implemented to support rural communities in Scotland in the last six months.

George Eustice: Responsibility for policy, and any related initiatives, to support rural communities in Scotland rests with the Scottish Government.

Poultry

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the poultry meat sector has adequate access to skilled staff after the UK leaves the EU.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of leaving the EU on the labour requirements of the poultry business to (a) sustain  and (b) increase levels of production.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the maintenance of the poultry meat sector workforce after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: Access to a sufficient and appropriately-skilled workforce is essential to continued industry growth, productivity and safety. We are working with industry to ensure that we understand the labour supply and demand across the food chain, including the poultry sector, and the effect of leaving the EU.Until we have left the EU, employers can continue to recruit EU workers to meet their labour needs. In December 2017 the UK Government reached an agreement with the EU that will allow those EU citizens to work and live here broadly as they do now.Defra is working closely with the Home Office as we work towards developing a new immigration system following our departure from the EU. As part of this, the Government has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to assess the role that EU citizens play in the UK economy and society.For the longer term, Defra is working with industry to raise awareness of the career opportunities within the agriculture and food industry to attract domestic workers, and is exploring the potential for innovation and automation in meeting future labour demands.

LEADER Programme

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the UK providing and maintaining funding allocated by the EU's LEADER programme at the same level after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: Rural development is a devolved matter.The agreement in principle between the UK and the EU states that we will continue to participate in EU programmes until they close in 2020. The UK will therefore receive its full allocation of 2014-2020 LEADER funding. All decisions on future spending will be made at the Spending Review.

Animal Welfare

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Oral Answer of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of 26 April 2018, Official Report, column 1007, how many charities have made representations to his Department to register (a) concerns about the potential burden of and (b) support for introducing licensing and regulation for animal rescue homes in each of the last five years.

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the animal charity sector on the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals for the regulation and licensing of animal rescue centres.

George Eustice: We do not have precise numbers available of the charities that have expressed an opinion on the regulation of animal rescue homes over the last five years. However, Defra is aware that animal rescue homes have expressed views on both sides of the argument in relation to the regulation of such establishments. Ministers have not held any recent discussions with animal charities about the regulation of animal rescue homes.

Beverage Containers: Recycling

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) he or (b) officials in his Department have met with representatives of the (i) Scottish and (iii) Welsh Government to discuss the potential scope of a deposit return scheme.

David Rutley: The Secretary of State has discussed deposit return schemes (DRS) with Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham, Welsh Minister for Environment Hannah Blythyn and Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths. Defra officials have met their counterpart officials representing the Scottish and Welsh Governments to discuss the potential scope of a DRS.

Government Departments: Beverage Containers

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will ban single-use coffee cups in its offices.

David Rutley: The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, published in January this year, includes a commitment to remove all single-use consumer plastics from central Government offices. This commitment will be delivered and reported under the sustainable procurement reporting section of the Greening Government Commitments. A number of Departments, including Defra, are already taking steps to eliminate single-use consumer plastics from their operations. Plastic drinking cups have been removed from Defra-run offices and replaced by glasses, and plastic coffee cups are soon to be banned from office catering outlets. The Department is currently tendering for a new catering contract which will prohibit single-use plastics from this summer.

Government Departments: Beverage Containers

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government will make it its policy to ban the use of single-use plastic coffee cups in Government buildings.

David Rutley: The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, published in January this year, includes a commitment to remove all single-use consumer plastics from central Government offices. This commitment will be delivered and reported under the sustainable procurement reporting section of the Greening Government Commitments. A number of Departments, including Defra, are already taking steps to eliminate single-use consumer plastics from their operations. Plastic drinking cups have been removed from Defra-run offices and replaced by glasses, and plastic coffee cups are soon to be banned from office catering outlets. The Department is currently tendering for a new catering contract which will prohibit single-use plastics from this summer.

Chemicals: EU Law

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on negotiating the terms on which the UK would remain a member of the REACH framework for the regulation of chemicals after the UK leaves the EU.

David Rutley: The UK is strongly committed to the effective and safe management of chemicals. That will not change when we leave the EU. We are working closely with colleagues across government to make sure that we have a regular dialogue with the sector as we prepare for leaving the EU. We are pursuing a deep and special partnership to ensure that UK companies have the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market and to let European businesses do the same in the UK. This agreement is in the interests of both the UK and EU chemicals sectors.

Air Pollution: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to bring air pollution within legal limits in (a) West Midlands; (b) Coventry and (c) Coventry South constituency.

David Rutley: As part of our £3.5billion plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, we have required 61 local authorities to complete local plans to deliver compliance with NO2 limits as soon as possible. These include Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Walsall Council and City of Wolverhampton Council.

Palm Oil: Labelling

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to ensure that the labelling on products containing palm oil specifies whether that palm oil was produced sustainably.

George Eustice: Defra is committed to supporting the implementation of deforestation-free supply chains for key commodities, including palm oil. We are a signatory to the Amsterdam Declarations and have endorsed the New York Declaration on Forests which support a fully sustainable palm oil supply chain from 2020. We are also a member of Tropical Forest Alliance 2020; a public-private co-operation working to help organisations achieve their deforestation-free commitments. In 2012 Defra published the UK Statement on the Sustainable Production of Palm Oil; which was signed by trade associations, NGOs and Government. The 2017 review notes that signatories have achieved a high level of success in delivering the Statement’s ambition of working towards 100% sourcing of credibly certified sustainable palm oil by the end of 2015. There are no plans to implement a separate policy requiring products containing palm oil to be labelled to specify sustainable production.

Forestry

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, what the timetable is for the establishment of the first forestry investment zone.

David Rutley: Local stakeholders in Cumbria are developing their proposition to pilot the first Forestry Investment Zone. More detail will be available later in the year.

Forestry

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the areas of England that will be designated as forestry investment zones.

David Rutley: Local stakeholders and the forestry sector will be encouraged to identify potential areas for Forestry Investment Zones and to develop these in partnership with government. We anticipate these proposals will be based on the emerging findings of the first pilot Forestry Investment Zone in Cumbria, later in the year.

Forestry

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's 25-Year Environment Plan, when he plans to appoint a national tree champion.

David Rutley: A decision on the appointment of the national Tree Champion will be made shortly.

Tree Planting

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to consult the Committee on Climate Change on the tree-planting targets required in England to meet the UK's climate change commitments.

David Rutley: The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, sets out how we will decarbonise the UK. The Strategy identified the important role for tree planting to contribute to carbon budget commitments, particularly in later carbon budget periods. The Committee on Climate Change emphasised the importance of tree planting in its independent assessment of the Strategy, published in January this year. Furthermore, in April the government announced plans to ask the Committee on Climate Change to report on the implications of the Paris Agreement's target.

Viridor

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the maximum tonnage of waste is that the Viridor Energy is entitled to burn at its waste facility in Runcorn under its permit; and what the tonnage of waste is that is currently being burnt at that site.

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the composition of fuel being burned at the Viridor Runcorn Energy from Waste facility been allowed to be changed from that permitted under its original permit.

David Rutley: The maximum throughput of waste specified in the permit for Viridor’s Runcorn Energy from Waste site is 850,000 tonnes per year. This was based on the predicted number and length of plant stoppages for inspection, maintenance and repair. In 2017 this routine shut down was shorter than expected, and the Environment Agency authorised a temporary increase of throughput on a trial basis. The total throughput of waste for 2017 was 890,933 tonnes. This increase will not have led to an unacceptable impact on the environment. Viridor will need to apply for a permit variation in order to permanently increase its annual throughput of waste. Any such permit variation is likely to be subject to public consultation. There has been no change in fuel composition from that specified in the permit in 2009.

Litter

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information he holds on the amount of litter that was dropped in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England in the last year for which figures are available.

David Rutley: Defra does not hold data on the amount of litter collected, either locally or at a national level. Further to the commitments given in the Litter Strategy, earlier this year we published a new ‘dashboard’ of indicators which, taken together, help us to understand the extent of litter and littering in England. The dashboard can be found online at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-and-littering-in-england-2016-to-2017/litter-and-littering-in-england-2016-to-2017.

Cats and Dogs: Sales

Giles Watling: When his Department plans to publish its response to the evidence that it received on banning third party sales of puppies and kittens in England.

George Eustice: We will set out the results of our call for evidence in due course.

Rural Areas: Crime

Gillian Keegan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the effect of rural crime on farmers.

George Eustice: We are working closely with the Home Office on a range of issues in relation to rural crime, including waste crime and fly-tipping and issues like sheep worrying and wildlife crime. We both also work closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the National Rural Crime Network on these issues.

Home Office

Andy Hall

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has (a) made a submission to and (b) had other forms of engagement with Interpol on the potential issuance of a red or diffusion notice by the Interpol National Central Bureau of Thailand in relation to Mr Andy Hall’s human rights work in Thailand.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support his Department is providing under the UN Guiding Principles On Business and Human Rights to human rights defender Mr Andy Hall on a potential red or diffusion notice being issued by Interpol.

Mr Ben Wallace: In line with the Government’s longstanding policy, I can neither confirm nor deny whether Mr Hall is the subject of an INTERPOL notice or diffusion. The National Crime Agency hosts the UK National Crime Bureau which is responsible for handling INTERPOL requests in the UK. It is operationally independent from the Home Office, it would not be appropriate for me to pursue such issues directly with the NCA or INTERPOL.However, I can assure you that any misuse of INTERPOL notices is taken very seriously by the government. The then Home Secretary raised this issue with INTERPOL Secretary General Stock on 18 April, and the UK has taken a strongly supportive stance in relation to INTERPOL’s efforts to ensure robust systems are in place to protect human rights and preclude interventions or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.I note that any person who is the subject of information processed in the INTERPOL information system may submit a request directly to INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF), an independent body which ensures processing of personal information by INTERPOL complies with its regulations for access to, correction or deletion of data relating to them.

Fire and Rescue Services: Recruitment

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications of employment have been made to each fire service from each ethnic group in each of the last 10 years.

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many appointments have been made to each fire service from each ethnic group in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Nick Hurd: Last year, for the first time, the Home Office collected information on the diversity of those joining fire and rescue services, for 2016/17. This data can be found, broken down by job role in table FIRE1121 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables#workforce-and-workforce-diversityData are not available for previous years. The Home Office does not collect data on the number of applications of employment made to each fire service.

Police: Recruitment

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employment applications have been made to each police force from each ethnic group in each of the last 10 years.

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many appointments have been made to each police force from each ethnic group in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold centrally all the information requested.The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of police officers who join the police workforce, as standard direct recruits, broken down by Police Force Area, and the ethnicity of the officer. Data on the ethnicity of standard direct recruits are broken down only into two groups: White or Black and Minority Ethnic.Data are published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins.The latest data available, covering joiners up to 2016/17, can be found inthe joiners Open Data Table, which accompanies the main release, here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629367/open-data-table-police-workforce-joiners.odsThe Home Office does not collect any data on employment applications made to the police. The next release of ‘Police workforce’ statistics is due to be published on 19th July.

Police and Crime Commissioners: Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Police and Crime Commissioners are subject to a purdah period in relation to elections.

Mr Nick Hurd: Directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are accountable to the public via the ballot box for ensuring the policing needs of local communities are met effectively.Restrictions are placed on local authorities, applicable to PCCs and their Deputies, by the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which refers to periods of heightened sensitivity during elections.

Anti-terrorism Control Orders: Libya

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many control orders on Libyan nationals living in the UK who were suspected members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were lifted in 2011.

Mr Ben Wallace: We do not comment on the personal circumstances of individuals who were subject to control orders.

Members: Correspondence

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to respond to the letters by the hon. Member for Tottenham to the Commonwealth Taskforce dated 24 April 2018, 30 April 2018, 8 May 2018, 9 May 2018, 11 May 2018 and 26 May 2018, and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office apologises for the delay in responding to the two oldest letters. The UKVI MP Account Management Team wrote to the office of the Hon. Member for Tottenham on 5 June with an update on the letters of 24 April and 30th April 2018, listed on Home Office systems as B13863/18 and B15910/18.The remaining letters will be responded within the Cabinet Office service standard of twenty working days.

Windrush Generation: Compensation

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department’s consultation entitled Windrush compensation: call for evidence, published on 10 May 2018, what meetings he has had with black majority church leaders since announcing that review.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many responses his Department has received to its consultation paper entitled Windrush compensation, published on 10 May 2018.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for his Department's response to its consultation on Windrush compensation.

Caroline Nokes: Following the opening of the Call for Evidence on the compensation scheme, meetings have taken place with a number of individuals and organisations with links to affected communities, including those representing faith groups. This programme of engagement will continue in the weeks ahead, working with Martin Forde QC, the Independent Person that is overseeing the design of the schemeIn his Written Statement to the House of 24 May, the Home Secretary outlined that almost 100 responses had been received at that point as part of the Call for Evidence. Responses continue to be received and this number has, and will continue to, increase up until the Call for Evidence closes on 8 June.The Government will publish a further public consultation on the design and shape of the scheme, as soon as the time has been taken to analyse the responses to the Call for Evidence and use the information gathered to inform design and implementation considerations.

Police

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) police officers, and (b) PSCOs funded by Government in each (i) police authority area, (ii) local authority area, and (iii) Welsh parliamentary constituency in each year for which information is available.

Mr Nick Hurd: With the exception of funding for counter-terrorism policing, central Government funding to the police is provided to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) on a non ring-fenced basis. Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers, within the force area, are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met.Before making decisions on the 2018/19 police funding settlement, I spoke to every police force in England and Wales to understand how demands on them were changing. This year, police funding will increase by £460m including a £280m increase in funding from precept. Most PCCs have set out plans to use this additional income to protect or enhance front line policing, and several are currently recruiting new officers.

Police: Working Hours

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many rest days are owed to police officers by forces in England and Wales  as at 1 June 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally. It is the responsibility of chief constables to manage working time and support the workforce effectively, ensuring police officers are able to take the rest days they are entitled to.

Domestic Violence: Males

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department collects on domestic abuse cases involving a male victim.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects information from police forces in England and Wales on the number of recorded crimes which have been identified by them as domestic abuse-related.This data is supplied to the Office for National Statistics and the latest data was published in a cross-departmental bulletin ‘Domestic abuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2017’. Statistics on domestic abuse-related offences by sex of the victim can be found in Figure 6 of the bulletin, available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2017#domestic-abuse-recorded-by-the-police

Defence Fire and Rescue Service

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the effect on local authority fire and rescue services of his Department's proposal to contract out the Defence Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Nick Hurd: There have been no discussions between the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Secretary of State for Defence on the effect on local authority fire and rescue services of the MOD’s proposal to contract out the Defence and Fire and Rescue Service.

Department of Health and Social Care

Pharmacy Integration Fund

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 20 December 2016, Official Report, what projects have been funded through the pharmacy integration fund to support improvements in (a) repeat prescriptions and (b) minor ailment services in England.

Steve Brine: The Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) has been used to support the employment of pharmacists in integrated urgent care, general practice and care homes where their expert knowledge is helping to optimise the use of medicines and improve clinical effectiveness to deliver better outcomes for patients, including in respect to repeat prescriptions. They receive additional training enabling them to prescribe and have access to the full clinical record meaning they are well placed to support patients with complex polypharmacy and multiple co-morbidities. Alongside this, the NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service has made it easier and faster for patients to access medication that they have previously been prescribed. To further support and promote the use of pharmacies by patients with minor ailments, the Digital Minor Illness Referral Service is piloting new urgent care pathways to direct patients into community pharmacy from NHS 111 Online and the NHS 111 phone line. In parallel, Government continues to promote pharmacy as the first port of call for a wide range of minor health concerns through the “Stay Well Pharmacy” campaign. Underpinning these work streams the PhIF is also funding training and leadership programmes which are also expected to drive improvements across these areas.

HC-one

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has received representations of the potential sale of HC-One; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has received representations on the takeover of Four Seasons Healthcare by H/2 Capital Partners.

Caroline Dinenage: Both myself and my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Jackie Doyle-Price) have met with representatives of Four Seasons Healthcare, Terra Firma and H/2 Capital Partners to emphasise the importance of ensuring continuity of care for those in receipt of care from Four Seasons. The Department has not received any specific representations on the potential sale of HC-One. The social care market is a combination of independent and publicly funded services, and sales are a normal part of a functioning market. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been closely monitoring the situation at both HC-One and Four Seasons, and will continue to do so. The CQC has been clear that service disruption is not likely at the current time.

Heart Diseases

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with a patent foramen ovare are on a waiting list for treatment in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England.

Steve Brine: The information is not held centrally.

Social Services

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2018 to Question 65063 on care homes: standards, if he will publish the number of social care provider de-registrations for all NUTS1 regions between 2010-11 and 2017-18.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2018 to Question 65063 on care homes: standards, how many of those de-registrations occurred because (a) the care home closed or (b) a legal entity change or change of the provider.

Caroline Dinenage: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have provided the attached data to show the number of adult social care providers that deregistered between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2018, by financial years and the reasons for deregistration over the same period. This data should be set against the context that the number of overall social care beds has remained constant over the last seven years, whilst the number of care home agencies in England has increased since 2010 which reflects the push to care for people in their own homes. The data is as at 3 April 2018. The CQC have provided the attached data showing those de-registrations which occurred because the care home closed or because of a legal entity change or change of the provider.



PQ147847,147848 attached document
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Pain: Females

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were prescribed GnRH analogue treatment by the NHS in each of the last five years.

Steve Brine: The following table provided by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA), shows the number of people prescribed GnRH analogue treatment by the National Health Service in England in a primary care setting. Figures are provided for the last three years as patient information for prescribing is only available from April 2015 onwards. Number of patients receiving prescriptions for drugs identified as "GnRH Analogue TreatmentFinancial YearNumber of identified patientsProportion of prescription items where the patient could be identifiedApril 2015 - March 2016128,52494.88%April 2016 - March 2017130,23895.75%April 2017 - March 2018131,17896.33% Note: Care should be taken when interpreting the patient counts as some patients could appear in the results for multiple time periods. Therefore, the patient numbers should not be combined and reported at any other levels than as provided in the dataset.  NHS numbers are not captured for every prescription and hence the NHS BSA has included the number of patients who could be identified along with the proportion of applicable prescription items for which the patient data could be identified.

Care Homes: Minimum Wage

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of the Social Care Compliance Scheme participants that will cease to be viable by the completion of that scheme.

Caroline Dinenage: The Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS) is an interim scheme administered by HM Revenue and Customs. The SCCS has been designed to assist social care providers in becoming compliant with National Minimum Wage legislation. HM Revenue and Customs does not discuss individual cases, as such no assessment can be made. However, the Government is exploring options to minimise the impact of sleep-ins liabilities on the social care sector.

NHS Trusts: Subsidiary Companies

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are mechanisms in place to prevent the sale of wholly owned subsidiaries established by NHS Trusts to external private companies.

Stephen Barclay: Legislation permitting foundation trusts to set up subsidiary companies has been in place since 2004 and specific restrictions on subsequent sale were not put in place at that time or subsequently. We would expect any proposals to make a sale to be reported to NHS Improvement who would be able to intervene if appropriate.

NHS Trusts: Subsidiary Companies

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has issued guidance to NHS Trusts on consulting their staff before establishing wholly owned subsidiaries.

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations his Department has received on the effect of wholly owned subsidiaries established by NHS Trusts on patient safety.

Stephen Barclay: The Health and Social Care Act 2003 gives foundation trusts the freedom to establish wholly owned subsidiaries. It is up to individual trusts to ensure good governance, including consulting with staff, when setting a wholly owned subsidiary. A search of the Department’s ministerial correspondence database has identified one item of correspondence received since 1 January 2018 about the effect of wholly owned subsidiaries established by National Health Service trusts on patient safety. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s ministerial correspondence unit only. We would expect NHS providers to place patient safety at the heart of all they do. Wholly owned subsidiaries are usually set up to provide back room services, not to deliver patient care.

NHS Trusts: Subsidiary Companies

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Treasury on the use of wholly owned subsidiaries established by NHS Trusts for tax avoidance.

Stephen Barclay: There have been no such discussions, however the Department does discuss issues relating to National Health Service finances on a regular basis. The Department wrote to the finance directors of all NHS providers in September 2017 reminding them of their responsibilities around tax and advising that tax avoidance arrangements should not be entered into under any circumstances. We would expect all NHS providers to follow this guidance when considering any new arrangements or different ways of working.

Health: Children

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve child health outcomes.

Jackie Doyle-Price: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Thelma Walker) on 8 May 2018 to Question 905179.

Doctors and Nurses: Qualifications

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the NHS of an agreement not being reached with the EU on mutual qualification recognition for (a) doctors and (b) nurses after the UK leaves the EU.

Stephen Barclay: The Government is confident that an agreement will be reached with the European Union on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications. The Department is working with our partners across Government and the public sector to understand the effect on the National Health Service of an agreement on mutual recognition with the European Union.

Cochlear Implants

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have received a cochlear implant in each of the last three years.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is not collected centrally. This is because Hospital Episode Statistics are a count of episodes and not people. We are able to provide a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary or secondary procedure or intervention for cochlear implants between 2014/15 and 2016/17. These are activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. A count of FAEs with a primary or secondary procedure or intervention for cochlear implants in each of the years between 2014/15 and 2016/17 is shown in the following table: YearFAE count of Cochlear Implant2014/151,0162015/161,1362016/171,256 A FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

Hospitals: Disclosure of Information

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals are complaint with the Accessible Information Standard.

Caroline Dinenage: Information on how many hospitals are compliant with the Accessible Information Standard is not held centrally. Compliance with the Standard is a legal duty and organisations that provide National Health Service care or adult social care have been required to follow the Standard in full since 1 August 2016. Compliance with the Standard is also a requirement of the NHS Standard Contract 2018/19. The specification for the Standard makes it clear that commissioning organisations must actively support compliance by organisations from which they commission services and must also seek assurance from providers in this regard.

NHS Trusts: Recruitment

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS Trusts are able to recruit (a) junior doctors and (b) consultants meet short-term increases in patient demand.

Stephen Barclay: It is the responsibility of National Health Service trusts to determine their local workforce needs and NHS trusts have worked hard to deliver a new flexible workforce to meet the ebbs and flows of patient demand. This includes wider multi-professional teams, such as advanced clinical practitioners, and increased use of staff banks. NHS Improvement is working with NHS trusts to support and improve how they manage their existing workforce more flexibly. Health Education England is working with employers, the Royal Colleges, junior doctor representatives and the General Medical Council to increase flexibility in training and improve the support available to doctors outside of training pathways, so that NHS trusts can attract doctors into locum posts when needed. There are now near record numbers of NHS staff. NHS Digital workforce statistics show that there are over 14,900 more doctors since 2010, and we are increasing the number of doctors we train by 25%.

Doctors: Training

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on expanding the Medical Training Initiative to meet the (a) the demand for places and (b) needs of NHS Trusts.

Stephen Barclay: My Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a number of issues, including on the operation of the Medical Training Initiative. The Government recognises the value of this initiative both to the National Health Service and to those who work and learn in the NHS on this scheme. However we also need to balance the operation of the scheme in order to avoid permanently draining lower income countries of their supply of doctors.

Social Services

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to ban 15-minute personal care visits.

Caroline Dinenage: The Care Act 2014 is clear that commissioning services without properly considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable. However, it would be inappropriate to introduce a blanket ban on 15 minute homecare visits. They may be appropriate in certain circumstances, for instance, checking a person’s medication has been taken. Ultimately, local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services. We are supporting local authorities to improve commissioning of care. The Department has also worked with local government and the care sector to develop and encourage good practice in commissioning and managing local adult social care markets. A suite of guidance is now available at the on-line Hub on GOV.UK. The Department is working with organisations from across the adult social care sector to implement Quality Matters – a shared commitment to take action to achieve high quality social care. Under this initiative, the Local Government Association has published the Integrated Commissioning for Better Outcomes framework to support sector-led improvement in adult social care commissioning.

Department of Health and Social Care: Non-departmental Public Bodies

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of his Department's non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care appoints Chairs and other non-executive members to the Department’s national public bodies. The appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments who gathers and publishes diversity data. The following table shows the number of public appointments, including new appointments and re-appointments, made to public bodies regulated by the Commissioner, and in each of the last five financial years. The figures do not include those who were appointed and chose not to declare their gender. Declared gender of public appointments to the Department’s national public bodies by yearYearFemaleMale% Female2013/14274239%2014/15284240%2015/16416041%2016/17293545%2017/18213339%

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) children and (b) adolescents admitted to out of area mental health beds in 2017-18.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not available in the format requested. The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Tier 4 Report, NHS England, 2014 includes the latest available analysis of out of area placements for children and young people and is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/camhs-tier-4-rep.pdf On 31 March 2017, NHS England announced the next steps to ensure children and young people do not have to travel far from home for mental health care. As well as funding between 150 and 180 new beds, we are increasing the availability of services in the community to ensure the right beds are in the right place. This includes a programme of work to improve timely treatments in the community for those needing urgent or emergency assessment as well as the development of, and recruitment for, community eating disorder services.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the contribution of prescription charges to the public purse in 2017-18.

Steve Brine: The Department’s Annual report and accounts for 2017/18, which show how the Department has funded its activities and used its resources, have not yet been published. NHS England received £554.9 million in revenue from the National Health Service prescription charge for the financial year 2016/17. Source: Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the contribution to the public purse of prescription charges from people who paid for four or more prescriptions 2017-18.

Steve Brine: The information requested is not held centrally, and could only be obtained from the NHS Business Services Authority at disproportionate cost.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: Eating Disorders

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many in-patient eating disorder beds have been available at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for (a) adults and (b) children in each year since 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a local acute trust and provides neither mental health nor eating disorder services.

NHS Walk-in Centres: North West

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many walk-in centres have closed in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wirral since 2010.

Stephen Barclay: The requested information is not centrally held.

NHS Walk-in Centres: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many walk-in centres have closed in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Coventry since 2010.

Stephen Barclay: The requested information is not centrally held.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust: Mental Health Services

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust for the provision of mental health services in each of the last seven years.

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  how much funding has been allocated to Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for the provision of mental health services in each of the last seven years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information is not available in the format requested. NHS England does not allocate funding to provider trusts, allocations are made to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), which are able to commission services as to meet the needs of their local populations. Funding at CCG level is available from the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health dashboard, published by NHS England, and is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/taskforce/imp/mh-dashboard/

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust: Eating Disorders

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many in-patient eating disorder beds there have been for (a) adults and (b) children in University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in each year since 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is a local acute trust and provides neither mental health nor eating disorder services.

Gambling: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many addiction treatment services there are for gambling in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Coventry and (c) the Coventry South constituency; and whether he plans to increase the provision of those services.

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many gambling addiction treatment services there are in (a) Merseyside, (b) Wirral and (c) Wallasey constituency; and whether his Department has plans to increase provision of those services.

Steve Brine: Information about gambling addiction treatment services is not held centrally therefore no assessment has been made of the number and range of services. There are a range of services available across England to problem gamblers, details of which can be found on the NHS Choices website at the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/gambling-addiction/ The national problem gambling clinic, which accepts referrals from all over the United Kingdom, is set within the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/cnwl-national-problem-gambling-clinic/

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Exiting the European Union on reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the EU after the UK leaves the EU.

Stephen Barclay: The Department of Health and Social Care has frequent discussions and regular meetings with the Department for Exiting the European Union to ensure that The Department of Health and Social Care’s EU exit priorities are considered as part of the Government’s overall approach on reciprocal healthcare arrangements and a range of cross-cutting issues. The Department of Health and Social Care worked closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union to inform the United Kingdom’s paper ‘Safeguarding the position of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU: summary proposals’, published in June 2017. The Department of Health and Social Care officials, alongside colleagues from the Department for Exiting the European Union, participate in negotiations with the EU. The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to liaise with the Department for Exiting the European Union on all matters regarding reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the EU.

Medical Treatments: British Nationals Abroad

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of UK residents that have travelled abroad for medical treatment in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Stephen Barclay: The Department does not hold information on the number of United Kingdom residents who have travelled abroad for medical treatment. The Department does hold information on UK insured persons who have travelled to the European Economic Area (EEA) to receive medical treatment. There are two routes through which a UK insured person can receive medical treatment in the EEA:- S2 – the S2 route may entitle a person to UK funded treatment in another EEA country or Switzerland. For healthcare to be funded under the S2 route, a person would need to apply for funding before treatment and there are certain qualifying criteria that need to be met.- EU Cross-Border Healthcare Directive – the Directive grants a right to purchase healthcare services across the EEA for all EEA-insured residents and to apply for reimbursement from their home system. A person using this route will have to pay the costs of treatment upfront and then claim eligible costs from the National Health Service on returning home. For some treatments, residents in England will need to get prior authorisation from NHS England before receiving treatment. Switzerland is not a signatory and the Directive does not apply there nor for its residents. The following tables outline the number of S2s issued in 2016, and the number of reimbursements under the Directive. S2In 2016, a total of 1,347 UK-insured individuals received planned medical treatment via the S2 route, in the countries listed as follows. Member StateNumber of S2 issued in 2016Belgium40Bulgaria4Czech Republic63Denmark1Germany97Estonia1Ireland38Greece14Spain148France131Croatia3Italy54Cyprus0Latvia0Lithuania31Luxembourg2Hungary57Malta1Netherlands13Austria23Poland502Portugal5Romania7Slovenia0Slovak Republic71Finland4Sweden27Iceland0Liechtenstein0Norway2Switzerland8Total1,347  Cross-Border Healthcare DirectiveIn 2016, a total of 1,113 UK-insured individuals received medical treatment via the Directive route, in the countries listed as follows. Member StateNumber of reimbursements in 2016Austria9Belgium17Bulgaria21Croatia1Cyprus16Czech Republic37Denmark2Estonia5Finland1France84Germany55Greece32Hungary26Iceland0Ireland72Italy15Latvia30Liechtenstein0Lithuania150Luxembourg0Malta2Netherlands11Norway0Poland408Portugal14Romania11Slovakia27Slovenia4Spain62Sweden1Total1,113

Medical Treatments: Foreign Nationals

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have visited the UK for medical treatment in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Stephen Barclay: The Department does not hold information on the number of people who have visited the United Kingdom for medical treatment. However, we do hold information on the number of insured people from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland who receive planned medical treatment in the UK. There are two routes through which an EEA/Swiss-insured person can receive medical treatment in the EEA:- S2 – the S2 route may entitle a person to UK funded treatment in EEA country or Switzerland. For healthcare to be funded under the S2 route, a person would need to apply for funding before treatment and there are certain qualifying criteria that need to be met. - EU Cross-Border Healthcare Directive – the Directive grants a right to purchase healthcare services across the EEA for all EEA-insured residents and to apply for reimbursement from their home system. A person using this route will have to pay the costs of treatment upfront and then claim eligible costs from the National Health Service on returning home. For some treatments residents in England will need to get prior authorisation from NHS England before receiving treatment. Switzerland is not a signatory and the Directive does not apply there nor for its residents. The following table outlines the number of S2s issued in 2016. We do not hold information on the number of reimbursements under the Directive as it is held by other Member States. In 2016, a total of 1,126 individuals from the EEA/Switzerland received planned medical treatment via the S2 route, issued by the countries listed as follows: Member StateNumber of S2sBelgium5Bulgaria5Czech Republic0Denmark11Germany7Estonia5Ireland946Greece36Spain7France5Croatia1Italy33Cyprus22Latvia3Lithuania0Luxembourg2Hungary0Malta0Netherlands12Austria9Poland4Portugal2Romania1Slovenia3Slovak Republic2Finland2Sweden3Iceland0Liechtenstein0Norway0Switzerland0

Carers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish his Department’s action plan for carers.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department published ‘Carers Action Plan 2018-2020: Supporting carers’ on 5 June 2018. The plan sets out a two-year programme of targeted cross-Government work that seeks to build carer friendly communities and support carers to provide care in a way that protects their own health and wellbeing, employment and life chances.

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons (a) the Bridgewater NHS Trust's retinal screening staff administration team are being transferred to the private company Emis Care and (b) the timing is before the end of the contract due in to finish in April 2019.

Steve Brine: Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust provides a diabetic eye screening service to patients through the Central Mersey Diabetic Eye Screening Programme. The administration of this service is provided by Emis. Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Emis have agreed to combine the administration function with the clinical delivery element within Bridgewater Community Healthcare Trust to deliver greater safety assurance as quickly as possible. Therefore the contract for administration which was due to finish in April 2019 will now finish on 10 August 2018. Emis have agreed to continue to work with Bridgewater Trust in order to ensure a smooth transition and alleviate any concerns that the current staff members may have regarding the Transfer of Undertakings - Protection of Employment process, and the Trust has confirmed that staff will be given full support through the process to ensure a safe and secure transfer.

Pharmacy: Negligence

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136485, what recent assessment he has made of the level of uptake and adoption of technology for reducing inadvertent dispensing errors in (a) pharmacies and (b) acute settings.

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2018 to Question 123567, if he will encourage the owners of pharmacies not meeting the standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council to adopt technology for reducing inadvertent dispensing errors as part of their action plans to improve the services they provide and safeguard the health, safety and well-being of patients and the public.

Steve Brine: The Department has not made any recent assessment of the level of uptake or adoption of technology for reducing inadvertent dispensing errors in pharmacies or acute settings. There are many ways to reduce the incidence of near misses and errors, and the solution to responding to these will vary depending on the nature of the error. The professionalism of the pharmacy workforce and robust systems of governance are the first line of defence in preventing dispensing errors. New technologies, such as the as electronic prescribing, the electronic prescription service, auto-mated dispensing and barcode scanning are being adopted by pharmacy teams, which will further help reduce risks of some types of dispensing errors. All registered pharmacy professionals and registered pharmacies are required to meet the relevant standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council. Documenting, reflecting and learning from near misses, dispensing errors or incidents is critical to compliance with the standards and ensuring that patients and the public receive safe and effective care from pharmacy.

Antibiotics: Drug Resistance

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the publication of an updated five year antimicrobial resistance strategy.

Steve Brine: Work is underway across Government, the devolved administrations and a wide range of stakeholders to develop a refreshed United Kingdom antimicrobial resistance strategy. Publication is planned by the end of the year.

Microbiology: Laboratories

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the availability of (a) effective and (b) up to day diagnostic equipment with 24-hour remote communication facilities in the reorganisation of microbiology laboratory services in the NHS.

Caroline Dinenage: NHS Improvement is leading the transformational changes in pathology services across England, with the formation of 29 Pathology Networks serving England well underway. These networks will realise an improved quality of service, timely access to diagnostic results and access to expert clinical advice in this very diverse clinical specialty. One of the most significant benefits of this reconfiguration will be to increase the availability of microbiology services, so vital in the diagnosis of life threatening conditions such as sepsis. Currently not all microbiology services are available 24/7 and access to state of the art equipment is variable. The establishment of networked pathology services will allow for best practice to be deployed across trusts, not only allowing for 24/7 services and faster access to targeted treatment, but also ensuring the latest technology such as molecular genetic testing is available to more patients. To support this development, this year the Government announced £61.5 million to develop the laboratory and IT infrastructure needed to monitor and review results and systems from any point in the network. NHS Improvement are also working closely with the Office of Life Sciences to ensure digitisation and deployment of artificial intelligence is built in to ensure maximum benefit to the National Health Service and patient outcomes as these technologies develop. These transformational changes are being performed with the full engagement of the pathology professional bodies and working with the Department’s procurement category tower 8 to improve the purchasing power and choice of equipment to the NHS.

Microbiology: Laboratories

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to SMI B 37: Investigation of blood cultures (for organisms other than Mycobacterium species), if he will make it his policy that each microbiology laboratory in the NHS undertakes an audit of their blood culture pathway to ensure effective antibiotic stewardship.

Steve Brine: United Kingdom Standards for Microbiology Investigations (UK SMIs) B 37: Investigation of blood cultures (for organisms other than Mycobacterium species) are developed by the UK SMI Working Groups under the auspices of Public Health England. SMI B 37 describes the processing and microbiological investigation of blood cultures and aims to set standards for each stage of the investigative process. These can then be used as a benchmark to audit against by certification and accreditation bodies if they wish. The UK SMIs are not mandatory and there is no legal obligation to follow the recommendations in UK SMIs. In using UK SMIs, laboratories should take account of local requirements and undertake additional investigations where appropriate. UK SMIs are National Institute for Health and Care Excellence accredited and represent a good standard of practice. NHS England has included compliance with UK SMIs in the National Health Service Standard Contract 2017-18.

Psychiatry: Children and Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the NHS recruitment agency HCC is rejecting BCP, UKCP, and BACP accredited and registered child and adolescent psychotherapists for CAMHS roles.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Employers is not aware of this issue. There is detailed advice and guidance on the checks and measures which National Health Service organisations must undertake as part of their recruitment processes in order to protect the quality and safety of patient care and services. The checks are outlined in the Employment Check Standards published by NHS Employers, which is available at the following link: https://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/recruit/employment-checks

Psychiatry: Children and Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hours of unpaid training a trainee child and young person’s psychotherapist has to undertake during their training period.

Jackie Doyle-Price: None - child and adolescent psychotherapist clinical trainees are employed by the National Health Service trust with which they are based during the period of their training.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the funding allocated to Future in Mind was spent in financial year 2017-18.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In 2017/18, the allocated funding for Future in Mind was £280 million, which included funding for eating disorders and perinatal mental health. The underspend against this budget was under £4.3 million.

Cabinet Office

Electoral Commission

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2018 to Question 144210 on Electoral Commission: Fines, on what date the last contact between the Electoral Commission and his Department took place.

Chloe Smith: My department has regular contact with the Electoral Commission on a range of issues, including its powers, and keeps those matters under review.

Children in Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the report from 2017 on the rise in the number of care applications which was conducted by the Cabinet Office Implementation Unit.

Oliver Dowden: The Cabinet Office Implementation Unit supports the Prime Minister by tracking the delivery of the Government's programme​. ​It is ​not the practice of the Government to disclose internal advice to Ministers.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to investigate the reasons for changes in the level of electoral registration in each local authority in each of the last three years.

Chloe Smith: Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have the statutory responsibility to maintain complete and accurate electoral registers. While there are many reasons why levels of electoral registration in any given area may vary over time, the overall trend since the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration has been for electoral registers to grow overall. The most recent full assessment of registration was conducted in 2016 by the Electoral Commission, based on the December 2015 registers. Electoral Commission reports on electoral registration are available online:https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/our-research/research-report-library#registration.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds from electoral registration officers on the number of names removed from electoral registers in each local authority, for each permissible reason, in each of the last five years.

Oliver Dowden: This information is not collated or held centrally.

Local Government: Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whats steps his Department took to increase voter registration prior to the 2018 local government elections.

Chloe Smith: The Electoral Commission has a responsibility for promoting public awareness of elections, including registration. Ahead of the 2018 local government elections, the Electoral Commission ran a successful campaign - Got 5? - which encouraged people to register to vote online using the Government’s Register to Vote website. In turn, the Government supported the Electoral Commission’s campaign through social media. Information on the use of the website in the run up to the local elections can be found here: http://gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Ministers of the devolved administrations on increasing the levels of voter registration.

Chloe Smith: The Government is working closely with the Welsh and Scottish Governments on elections and registration issues. We are also working closely with the Northern Ireland Office and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, for example, on the imminent introduction of online registration.

Elections: Finance

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to A regulatory review of the UK’s party and election finance laws: Recommendations for Change, published by the Electroal Commission in June 2013, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Electoral Commission's recommendation that political parties that receive and spend less than £500 annually should be exempt from submitting a full statement of accounts.

Chloe Smith: The Government has no plans to amend the current legislation.

Local Government: Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of cases of alleged electoral fraud relating to nomination that took place at the 2018 local government elections.

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many allegations of impersonation were made to the police in relation to the 2018 local government elections; how many of those allegations are under investigation; and what the proportion of the votes cast at those elections those cases represent.

Chloe Smith: This Government is committed to creating a clear and secure democracy that works foreveryone and, as part of this, wants to ensure that fraud is stamped out in all elections. Anyinstance of electoral fraud is one instance too many. The Electoral Commission collates information on allegations of electoral fraud at elections and in due course will publish a report covering polls held in 2018.

Elections: Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to encourage youth engagement in (a) national and (b) local elections.

Chloe Smith: The December 2017 Democratic Engagement Plan sets out our ambition to increase democratic participation across several under-registered groups, including young people. It includes a pledge to launch the inaugural National Democracy Week in July this year. The Week will see Cabinet Office and partners deliver events and activities to promote democratic engagement. Further to this work, as part of the Government’s Suffrage Fund Centenary Programme, Cabinet Office, the Government Equalities Office and Department for Education are working together on projects aimed at improving young people's understanding and knowledge of both national and local democracy. As already announced, this includes recruiting and training youth democracy ambassadors. We have also already published a youth engagement toolkit for parliamentarians. Later this year we will launch a secondary schools resource. In addition, the Government has taken steps, linked to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, to facilitate student registration.

Electoral Register: Internet

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of people who registered to vote by means of the online registration service did so without providing a national insurance number in (a) 2014, (b) 2015, (c) 2016, (d) 2017 and (e) 2018.

Chloe Smith: The online registration service is very popular and enjoys consistently high user satisfaction. The overwhelming majority of people successfully use the service and are able to provide a National Insurance number when doing so. The figures are as follows:  Online registration applications that did not include a National Insurance number (percentage)2014 (from launch)2.21%20152.19%20161.57%20171.69%2018 (to date)1.56% As can be seen, over time the number of applications without a National Insurance number has been falling from already very low levels. This suggests that communications activity making it clear that having a National Insurance number to hand makes online applications easier has had an effect. These figures also clearly justify the use of National Insurance numbers as the primary means of verifying the identity of applications received through the online system.

Politics: Education

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Every Voice Matters: Building A Democracy That Works For Everyone, published by his Department on 19 December 2017, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Department for Education on increasing the level of political education in schools for young people in line with the objectives of that document.

Chloe Smith: The Cabinet Office and Department for Education are working together on the democratic engagement agenda. For example, our Departments are collaborating with the Historical Association in the development of an online secondary schools resource to be launched later this year. The resource is aimed at 13-16 year olds and will raise awareness of UK democratic history and inspire and engage young people in their own democratic choices through case studies.

Voting Rights

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on extending the franchise to all legal residents of the UK.

Chloe Smith: Those entitled to vote at UK Parliamentary and local government elections include those who have attained the age of 18 and who are British citizens; citizens of Commonwealth countries who are resident in the UK on a permanent basis or have leave to enter or remain; and citizens of the Republic of Ireland resident in the UK. Resident citizens of other European Union (EU) Member States are eligible to vote at local government elections. Citizens of other countries do not have the right to vote in UK elections. Citizenship restrictions are the norm for participating in national elections in most democracies, including the UK. The Government has no plans to extend the franchise to all legal residents at this time.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of piloting polling day voter registration to increase voter turnout.

Chloe Smith: The Government has no current plans to pilot polling day voter registration. The current system strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring eligible citizens can register close to an election and allowing electoral administrators to finalise registers allowing for the effective conduct of polls.

Local Government: Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of  the introduction of all-postal voting in local elections.

Chloe Smith: No assessment has been made of the use of all-postal voting since the need to provide personal identifiers was introduced in the Electoral Administration Act 2006. Unless personal identifiers are held for every elector, all-postal voting cannot be utilised.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the adequacy of national electoral registers used by (a) EU and (b) other countries in relation to the introduction of a centralised, national electoral register in the UK.

Chloe Smith: The Government has not made a comparative assessment of other countries’ electoral registers. We have no plans to introduce a centralised, national electoral register in the UK.

Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions has he had with the Electoral Commission on changes to electoral law.

Chloe Smith: Ministers and officials meet regularly with representatives from the Electoral Commission to discuss a range of topics. Any change of policy or process could entail a change to legislation so many of the discussions touch on changes to electoral law.

Local Government: Elections

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many allegations of impersonation were made to the police in each of the five local authorities piloting voter ID at the 2018 local government elections; and what proportion of votes cast in each of the five local authorities those cases represent.

Chloe Smith: Voter ID is an important step to ensuring the public can have greater confidence in our democratic system. Information relating to the number of allegations of impersonation is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. This information is a matter for each relevant police force and Returning Officer. The impact of voter ID, including data from police forces will be the subject of the Electoral Commission’s independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and it will publish its findings in the summer of 2018: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/242016/Background-Briefing-Electoral-Commission-evaluation-of-voter-ID-pilots.pdf

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on reforming the annual canvass of electors.

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress his Department has made on electoral registration improvement programmes.

Chloe Smith: Although it continues to play an important role in helping to maintain register accuracy and completeness, alongside online registration, the current one-size-fits-all annual canvass process is widely recognised as being burdensome and inefficient. The Government intends to implement changes to this process that will make the canvass easier for citizens and administrators and improve overall efficiency considerably. In 2016 and 2017 we delivered a range of pilots that have tested alternatives to the current process. The evidence from these pilots is currently being analysed and we expect to publish findings later this month. We are currently working in close partnership with the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, the Scottish Assessors Association and electoral administrators to discuss what improvements to the canvass process could be made, based on the evidence from the pilots. We are engaging directly with the devolved administrations in this work. We intend to consult on proposals later this year.More widely, since the transition to Individual Electoral Registration and the introduction of online registration, we have delivered a number of reforms, again in partnership with the wider electoral community. This has included making a number of changes to the law (for example to allow Invitations to Register to be sent by e-mail) as well as non-legislative improvements such as continual improvement of the online platform (both the citizen interface and behind-the-scenes). In addition, in December 2017 the Government published the first ever Democratic Engagement Plan.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on the introduction of changes to the Register to vote website.

Chloe Smith: We adopt a continual improvement approach to the maintenance and operation of the Register to Vote website. Since 2016, this has included a complete technology refresh: the new platform facilitated the flawless operation to support registration ahead of the 2017 General Election. We have also: - Completed an accessibility audit to ensure the service is accessible for all UK citizens. This will be conducted annually.- Ensured the service supports recent changes to the law to make anonymous registration easier.- Changed the content on the homepage of the website so as to reduce the number of duplicate applications- Reviewed the technical operation of the postcode database to allow more regular updates, ensuring citizens living in new homes can apply to register to vote more easily- Provided more guidance for citizens with protected national insurance numbers- Improved information to citizens about the timescales in which their application will be processed.These changes reflect feedback on the website provided by electoral administrators and others, as well as our own improvement priorities. We will continue to act on feedback to ensure the website meets user needs and retains the consistently excellent user satisfaction it enjoys.

Elections: Campaigns

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on the recommendation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life Review of Intimidation in Public Life to extend electoral law requirements for an imprint on campaigning materials to electronic communications.

Chloe Smith: The Government will begin a consultation this summer which considers whether to extend the rules on imprints on printed electoral material to online electoral material. The consultation will seek views on introducing an electronic imprint and how such a requirement could be appropriately framed.

Ballot Papers

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New Electoral Laws proposed to combat intimidation in public life, published on 6 February 2018, what progress has been made on removing the requirement for candidates’ home addresses to be included on ballot papers.

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has plans to remove the statutory requirement to publish the home address of election agents.

Chloe Smith: The Government is committed to removing the requirement for candidates standing as local councillors to have their home addresses published on the ballot paper. This requirement will be replaced with an option to include a statement of residence based on an electoral area the candidate lives in rather than having to include a specific address, in line with the provisions in place for candidates at UK parliamentary elections. We are currently working through the detail in discussion with relevant stakeholders, including what level of location information is appropriate, and how the provisions will be implemented in practice. As part of this work, we will consider the existing requirements for the publication of the home address of election agents.

National Democracy Week

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Government's partners that will deliver National Democracy Week 2018.

Chloe Smith: Details of our partners for National Democracy Week are available here: https://democracyweek.campaign.gov.uk/. The list of partners was published in March this year. Our campaign website also includes materials for use by partners.

Poll Cards

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions his Department has had with Royal Mail on mailing options for poll cards.

Chloe Smith: Government officials discuss issues regularly with Royal Mail and met them to discuss options for delivery of Poll Cards on 9 March along with print suppliers, electoral administrators and representatives from the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators. Officials also met with Royal Mail, the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators on 22 May for a further meeting on this subject ahead of a notice going out via the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives about changes being introduced by Royal Mail.

Voting Rights: Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent conversations he has had with the devolved administrations on  the potential merits of extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds.

Chloe Smith: The Government has no plans to lower the voting age, having been elected on a manifesto commitment to retain the current franchise for parliamentary elections at 18. Under the devolution settlements, franchise and registration arrangements for local elections and elections to the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales are a matter for those devolved administrations.

Civil Servants: Flexible Working

Laura Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria his Department is using to assess the effect of The Way We Work programme on wellbeing in the civil service.

Oliver Dowden: Delivery ​of ​t​he ​W​ay ​We Work (now Smart Working) initiative ​i​s ​with individual departments​. As a consequence ​tracking any wellbeing benefits would be​ at department level ​and ​are ​not ​collected centrally.

Civil Servants: Flexible Working

Laura Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of The Way We Work programme on wellbeing in the civil service.

Oliver Dowden: Delivery ​of ​t​he ​W​ay ​We Work (now Smart Working) initiative ​i​s ​with individual departments​. As a consequence ​tracking any wellbeing benefits would be​ at department level ​and ​are ​not ​collected centrally.

Civil Servants: Flexible Working

Laura Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of The Way We Work programme on levels of productivity in the civil service.

Oliver Dowden: Delivery ​of ​t​he ​W​ay ​We Work (now Smart Working) initiative ​i​s ​with individual departments​. As a consequence ​tracking any wellbeing benefits would be​ at department level ​and ​are ​not ​collected centrally.

Civil Servants: Flexible Working

Laura Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) IT equipment, (b) training, (c) project delivery and (d) other costs have been of the The Way We Work programme to date.

Oliver Dowden: Delivery ​of ​t​he ​W​ay ​We Work (now Smart Working) initiative ​i​s ​with individual departments​. As a consequence ​tracking any wellbeing benefits would be​ at department level ​and ​are ​not ​collected centrally.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effectiveness of auto-enrolment onto the electoral roll for all UK citizens eligible to vote.

Chloe Smith: The Government is not giving consideration to automatic electoral registration because automatic registration would not be compatible with the principles of Individual Electoral Registration. Alongside the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration, the implementation of online registration has transformed the ease with which citizens can get on the electoral register, for example after moving house. Applying online takes less than five minutes. The online system is widely used, especially around elections, enjoys high levels of user satisfaction and is highly efficient.

Marriage: Children

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in how many marriages was the (a) woman or (b) man between the 16 and 18 years of age for each year for which information is available.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of marriages involving a party under 18 years old in each of the last ten years.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Department for International Trade

Overseas Trade: Commonwealth

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what targets the Government has set for increased trade with Commonwealth countries after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Graham Stuart: Holding answer received on 04 June 2018



UK-Commonwealth Trade was worth £94.4 billion in 2016. Whilst the Department for International Trade has no trade target with the Commonwealth, we are committed to increasing the trade and investment with Member States. At the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April, we announced a package of initiatives that would contribute to this including projects building capacity amongst female entrepreneurs, improving and aligning standards and Trade Facilitation assistance.

Export Controls

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that information on licences granted by the Export Control Joint Unit is (a) accessible and (b) comprehensible to the public.

Graham Stuart: The Government publishes Official Statistics on a quarterly and annual basis on export licences granted and refused on GOV.UK. These include a country level data report, providing data per country and a statistical commentary report that summarises and provides context and explanation for the key data trends. These are available to view at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.A searchable database that allows bespoke searches of this information, based on specific licence types, destinations and goods, is also available at https://www.exportcontroldb.trade.gov.uk/sdb2/fox/sdb/SDBHOME.All information published on GOV.UK must comply with guidelines set by the Government’s Digital Service. This includes a mandatory requirement for all published information to be written in plain English to ensure that it is clear and concise.We are reviewing all export control content on GOV.UK to ensure it is as clear and simple as possible for exporters and other members of the public.

Financial Services: Exports

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of which non-EU markets have the greatest potential for increasing UK financial services exports after the UK leaves the EU.

Graham Stuart: We are determined to help UK business from every sector make the most of opportunities around the world. To support the financial services industry, the Department for International Trade (DIT) is running in-depth export promotion campaigns in markets where we have identified the best immediate prospects. The countries for those campaigns were selected based on economic analysis, intelligence from British Embassies and feedback from industry experts.As well as addressing the opportunities available now, we are also designing a fully-independent UK trade policy. This will unlock further opportunities in markets where UK firms are currently still facing barriers to access. DIT and HM Treasury are currently working with businesses to identify the most important priorities for the sector.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Gaming Machines

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when will the timetable is for the reduction in the maximum stake on fixed odds gambling machines to be implemented.

Tracey Crouch: The Government published its response to the consultation on changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures on 17 May. The Government will engage with the gambling industry to ensure they are given sufficient time to implement and complete the technological changes for the reduction in maximum stake for Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals. The Government will deliver the reduction in stake through secondary legislation in due course.

Theatres

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 147814, if he will publish the (a) names and (b) registered postcode locations of the 190 theatres and touring companies into which £100 million of public money is being invested over four years.

Michael Ellis: Data on which organisations Arts Council England fund is public information and can be found on their website here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/national-portfolio-2018-22/more-data-2018-22 Arts Council England does not publish the postcode of organisations; however the area, Local Authority & parliamentary constituency are available.

Museums and Galleries

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 147813 on Museums and Galleries: Closures, if he will publish the (a) names and (b) postcode locations of the 29 museums which gained museum accreditation from Arts Council England in 2017-18.

Michael Ellis: The following 29 institutions gained full accreditation under the Museums Accreditation Scheme administered by Arts Council England in the twelve months between April 2017 and April 2018.  Museum Postcode ONS regionMuseum Postcode ONS regionMuseum Postcode ONS region1Winterbourne House and GardensBirmingham B15 2RTWest Midlands11Lutterworth & District MuseumLutterworth LE17 4DYEast Midlands21Dingles Fairground Heritage CentreLifton PL16 0ATSouth West2Bovey Tracey Heritage CentreNewton Abbot TQ13 9GPSouth West12No. 42 Market PlaceBishop Auckland DL14 7PBNorth East22New Hall Art Collection at Murray Edwards CollegeCambridge, CB3 0DFEast of England3Grampound with Creed Heritage CentreCornwall TR2 4QSSouth West13Elliott's Store and MuseumSaltash PL12 6JQSouth West23Axminster Heritage CentreAxminster EX13 5AHSouth West4Whitchurch Silk MillWhitchurch RG28 7ALSouth East14Corby Heritage CentreCorby NN17 1UUEast Midlands24Dundee Museum of TransportDundee DD1 3LAScotland5Swannington Heritage Trust MuseumLeicestershire LE67 8QUEast Midlands15Powis CastleWelshpool SY21 8RFWales25Iona Abbey MuseumIsle of Iona PA76 6SQScotland6Museum of the Royal Regiment of ScotlandEdinburgh, EH1 2NGScotland16Westray Heritage CentreOrkney KW17 2BZScotla nd26Jedburgh Abbey Visitor CentreJedburgh TD8 6JQScotland7Cowbridge & District MuseumCowbridge CF71 7DDWales17The Scottish Crannog CentreAberfeldy PH15 2HYScotland27Britannia MuseumDartmouth TQ6 0HJSouth West8Metheringham Airfield Visitor CentreLincoln LN4 3WFEast Midlands18The Brickworks Museum, BursledonSouthampton SO31 7HBSouth East28The Hockey MuseumWoking GU21 6BLSouth East9Bilsthorpe Heritage MuseumNewark NG22 8QYEast Midlands19Dunkirk Mill MuseumNailsworth, GL5 5HHSouth West29Weymouth MuseumWeymouth DT4 8TRSouth West10Kingswood Heritage MuseumBristol BS30 8XTSouth West20Soldiers of Oxfordshire MuseumWoodstock OX20 1SNSouth East